Beal City edges Decatur in extras

@natejschneiderHOLLAND - On the one hand, Beal City played plenty well enough Tuesday afternoon in the Division 4 quarterfinals to not have to rely on a fluke play to win it.

But rest assured, the Aggies will take it every time.

Via a bases-loaded balk with two outs in the top of the eighth inning of a pressure-packed quarterfinal matchup with defending D4 state champion and seventh-ranked Decatur, third-ranked Beal City secured the go-ahead run in a 3-2 victory and a trip to the state semifinals in Battle Creek for the fourth time in five years.

“We knew it was going to be a 2-1 or 3-2 type of ballgame,” said Aggies coach Brad Antcliff. “We talked the last few days about how great of a program Decatur is and they played phenomenal baseball today. But I love these kids and they’ve worked so hard for this. Everyone tells me I’ve done this and I’ve done that, but it’s these kids. All I do is make the lineup. They are the ones that go out there and take care of business.”

Beal City(34-2) will square off with Maple City Glen Lake Friday at 5 p.m. in the Division 4 semifinals at Battle Creek.

After neither team crossed a run in the seventh inning to send it to extra innings at 2-2, the Aggies had first crack at it in the eighth as they were the away team. After a flyout opened the frame, Chase Rollin got things rolling with a walk and Ryan Tilmann followed by drawing a walk.

With two outs, freshman Tucker Gross singled sharply to left field and it looked as though there was a possibility for Rollin to score. But not wanting to take a big risk due to how hard to ball was hit, Antcliff held up Rollin as he rounded the bag.

“The last thing I wanted was for the third out to be made at home and the play was made in such shallow left that I thought holding Chase was the best thing to do,” Antcliff said.

Up next was Nick Hoogerhyde, who watched two balls go by and then two strikes to even the count.

Then a strange thing happened.Tim Cerven, the left-handed ace for Decatur (22-5-1) who threw all eight innings, double clutched on the mound as he looked in for the sign.

“Balk,” screamed the entire Aggies dugout.

Sure enough, the home plate umpire called the indisputable balk to bring in Rollin from third for the go-ahead run.

The third out was recorded without any further damage, but Beal City had its lead.

Chase’s older brother, the junior Ty, was brilliant in relief and struck out two of the three Raiders batters in the bottom of the eighth to end it including the one for the final out.

“We all have a great mindset and team chemistry and we all want to win,” said Ty.

The Aggies took a 1-0 lead in the third inning as Tucker Gross was hit by a pitch, followed by walks to Hoogerhyde and Joe Rau. Ryan Marshall then drew a bases-loaded walk, bringing in a run without the benefit of a hit.

Decatur tied it back up in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by T.J. Stambek off Beal City starter Ryan Marshall. The Aggies answered, however, as a Hoogerhyde sacrifice fly to center field with the bases loaded brought in Chase Rollin, who had opened the frame with a double to left-center.

“We never could get that one big hit to put a couple runs on the board, but we scratched and clawed our way through,” Antcliff said. “I kept telling our guys to go to left field and right field because balls were carrying those ways. The ball wasn’t carrying to center and we hit a bunch of balls to dead center.”

Marshall worked the first four-plus innings before giving way to Rollin. He allowed both earned runs, the second being a runner that Rollin inherited due to a leadoff walk in the fifth when he was lifted which tied the score at 2-2. The first batter against Rollin doubled to put runners at second and third, but only the lead runner scored on a sacrifice fly as the damage was limited.

“We were able to get out of that inning with just the one and that was definitely big for us,” Ty said.

Rollin gave up just two hits with seven strikeouts and an intentional walk during his four innings of relief to earn the victory.

“Getting to Battle Creek is what we work toward all year and it’s great to be able to do that especially for the seniors,” added Rollin.

After advancing to Battle Creek four of the last five years and winning state titles in 2009 and ’10, the Aggies certainly do not need a road map on how to get there.

“These kids never doubted it and never doubted anything we did all year,” Antcliff said.